During the last 2 years my partner & I did almost every thing we can to perform corrective SEO operations for our site. We:
- Make sure our content is refreshed every 2 weeks
- Make sure our linking don't change (only grow)
- Choosing dynamically the proper keywords specific to each page (50k pages)
- Nice tag cloud which assists our customers
- using module rewrite to better indexed by SEs
- Made some link building
- Using ajax to assit our users
- Posting in SEWatch forums :)

For 2 year we keep receiving traffic around 100 users per day.

I would love to know what are we doing wrong, can someone be kind enough to hint us? even one little feedback will make us greatfull

Our Site is BabySupply Dot Info

PS: THIS IS NOT ADVERSITING!!!! We really stuck with 100 users per day - check alexa

Thanks
Luk

Use hittail:

http://www.hittail.com/blog/2007/04/hittails-30-second-elevator-pitch-at.html

to write articles that people will love (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice-writing-useful-articles-that-readers-will-love/).

Don't listen to Alexa, what does your Google Analytics say?

Enough with the GOSH DARN Alexa! Why do people still even TALK about Alexa? Alexa reveals absolutely nothing - NOTHING!

That being said - the list of things you've done for "SEO" don't strike me as a complete or effective list.

You talk about content - but, so what? Are you changing content or adding to it? And if you are adding to it, are you optimizing it? Optimizing new content for: copywriting, keywords, internal linking (NOT sitemap crap), external links, etc.

Content by itself is not enough. Don't believe "content is king" and think that's the only thing. Content is important - but there's gotta be more than just content.

Do you know how to check your site for SE compliance? Do you know how to tell if you have duplicate content problems? WWW vs. Non-www compliance? Are you even compliant?

Do you know the best practices for dynamic URL rewriting?

Do you know that AJAX is terrible for SEO? I mean, AJAX using Javascript for crying out loud! But that depends on how you implement AJAX (I didnt take a deep look).

Tag clouds? I'm not sure what makes you think that is part of SEO. Lots of sites that rank well dont have tag clouds. Tag clouds do not add to SEO. It's a gimmick like talking about blogging. Again, lots of good top ranking sites dont have blogs. Gimmicks all: blogs and tag clouds.

There are fundamentals going on with your site that you have to diagnose and address. Search engines, at the end of the day, are still just software programs. You gotta respect the limitations of search engines.

Have you created a xml file that you can submit to Google webmaster?

Using ajax to assit our users
Depending on exactly how you're using ajax, you might be making content or navigation invisible to the search engines.

Great advise from a good group.... this will keep you busy for a few days

Thanks but already been there,

We are regularly post XML sitemaps to Google & Yahoo.
We are working with Google Analytics for 11 months now. We have a rather steady visitor line (100 users per day).

All our pages are well formed using w3c validator.
Each page concentrates on keywords relating to his topic.

I was hoping to receive a concrete advice relating specific to our site.

We would love to hear coherent thoughts from our experts
Luk

Here's a quick list:

Check for duplicate content. Do each of your URLs point to a different page? Do you have your www. vs non-www. URLs redirecting properly?

What are you doing to optimize the content on your pages? Unique page titles, different meta tags if you are using them, using proper H1, H2 tags, etc.?

w3c compliance isn't the key - SE compliance is the key and SE compliance does not always mean w3c compliance (w3c compliance for example does not consider link farms - but Google compliance does)

Are your inbound links optimized? Do you use keywords you are trying to rank for in the anchor text of links to your site? Do you vary your anchor in your inbound links? What are the qualities of your inbound links? Blogs, forums, articles, and PR are poor forms of link building if you are just endlessly submitting them.

Are you using AJAX to link within your own site? AJAX uses Javascript - NOT SEO-friendly.

Try these for starters.

If you have the on page things covered it is time to start link building

Hi,

1. We don't have content duplication.
2. We only use relative linking to our inner pages.
3. We have special meta tags - well customized, we don't use H1,H2 tags although we do use image alt, table-summary attribute, href-title attributes and more.

We don't use forums/blogs etc. We have little Ajax - search auto complete box.

We already eaten all the starters :)

ulukach, after taking a look at your site it appears that, in general, you have to at least go back to the very basics of using and forming proper meta data (title, description, keywords) unique to each page, the proper use of the Title attribute, and focusing what each page is about. There's probably more, but on a quick look these appear to be the most obvious.

Thanks Jim
I'll do so, I thought we did that but it worth checking it again

All the stuff is there, just not correctly used, much just lists of keywords.

You need solid, unique page titles, unique meta descriptions written in sentence form, meta keywords focused on the page topic only, you really could use an h1, don't use the title attribute to stuff in keywords, and lose that neverending left nav list of whatever it is -- it completely overwhelms the page content.

That's as far as I can go, otherwise I'd have to send you an invoice ;-)

That's as far as I can go, otherwise I'd have to send you an invoice ;-)

Nice touch!

Instead of an money, I can send you sand from the holly land :)

He, he, he. Thanks, but I crawled around in enough sand when I was in the Army. Not quite as holy, they probably itch the same.

Some excellent advice from the old timers on here :)

I would add that you need to focus towards userability....and I found your left hand popular items menu VERY confusing...and so will your site visitors....

Point 1/ You have a critical spelling error which is not a good thing and needs changing!

Popular itmes

Should of course be Popular items

Also, my advice would be to bin that popular items menu and work on the site linking internals.
I can see some critical problems that will be slowing your SEO down a lot...but thats all Im going to say ;)

We followed the humble forum wisdom & set the proper changes in:
- Reduce overwhelming inner linking :)
- We change the title/keywords/description across all site pages to describe only the specific page offerings
- Corrected spelling mistakes

If you think we should go further please tell us
Luk

If you haven't done this, please address the following:

1. Do you have a list of targeted keywords where you want to rank for? If not, please create one.
2. Find out what traffic volume is there for each of the keywords and then see which competitors are getting listed there. Determine keywords with enough traffic and less competition.

Do link building and content creation targeted towards those keywords...

Let us know the results !!!

The only thing we failed doing is proper link building. How do I do that beside link exchange? (and directories/search engine posting / forum & blogs)

directories, talking to a strategic list of sites that are authorities

We followed the humble forum wisdom & set the proper changes in:
- Reduce overwhelming inner linking :)
- We change the title/keywords/description across all site pages to describe only the specific page offerings
- Corrected spelling mistakes

If you think we should go further please tell us
Luk

I think you have made good progress Luk
Site is looking better for sure.
Though useability and content is what you need more of.

If it was me...

I would
1/ remove that menu of most popular items on the left hand side of the page as as I find it a bit confusing and believe the average user will too.....or at least change it to a different style because I think it does nothing except detract from your site IMHO (just a personal gripe tho!)

2/ add some more content to the site. By way of quality articles ideally based around your subject area. Some of your tools look great but I would add some more UNIQUE (not copied) articles myself

for starters :)

always be adding content
tighten the internal linking so it supports the interior niches without being too repetitive - stick mostly to main category links and internal within the category to the rest of the category pages

Oh, and no matter what else you do, you'll never get anywhere unless you knock out those keyword stuffed comments in the head

We updated the site according to your wize thoughts, with regarding to the following:
- Dropped comments conatining keywords
- Dropped summary attributes of table html elements which contained keywords

My partner and I did not agree regarding the tag cloud , I really think it may assist the users rather than confuse them.

Will the tag cloud bring some rain?

Make sure each description is unique

We pay attention to the following with regarding to page description:
- Keep description unique and focused to the page content
- Written to people rather than Bots

Is there any other advice we left under the reconstructions remnants :) ?

ulukach, shorten the alt= text on images so it's descriptive and accurate and no more than a few words. No invitations to email you, no keyword lists - that isn't what they're for. Same thing with the title= attributes in your text links; they're plain and simple flat-out keyword stuffing, and they don't do a thing for your rankings anyway.

remove that menu of most popular items on the left hand side of the page as as I find it a bit confusing and believe the average user will too.....or at least change it to a different style because I think it does nothing except detract from your site IMHO (just a personal gripe tho!)It's not a personal gripe, it can do nothing but hinder the SEO for the site.

You also have many meta descriptions that are duplicated over pages. It's actually better to leave them out if need be, rather than run duplicate content footprints all over a site.

One way you can simply increase traffic is by word of mouth. Honestly that keyword cloud is an issue I do have a solution though. You have to design a site so people don't have to think thats how Ebay and Amazon are designed and for very good reasons.

You have a really good main nav menu I love it . It's really easy to use, direct and I didn't have to think however I almost totally missed it because it's hidden. What if I was looking for art supplies I access your site but hold on wheres the art category? have you got one? Hold on my eyesight's not good whats that below bugaboo? Automatically you have indirectly made me disengage from what I was looking for and making me unnecessarily think Whats a bugaboo?Whats a mish mish? It's too hard to see bare in mind 1 in 10 people have some form of colour blindness not even taking into account people who have bad eyesight. People don't care whats popular they come to your site looking for something specific. I'm not saying don't have it, it's good for impulse buyers maybe Testing would be necessarily to decide how true this is.

I almost missed your main nav totally as the colors in the keyword cloud takes the eye away from the list below which isn't visible till you click the arrow. How many people above spotted that you had a whole sub menu and they where actually looking at your site for problems sites visitors wont? Wheres your home?contact us?about us? I was looking for it and had almost missed it. Also help?with what?search?how to use the site?Be more specific not cryptic.

My dad is very new to the web doesn't know how to use email etc.. I had to set him an account up. These are the people you need to design for. They don't know if you click the arrow the nav will appear.

Solution
Simply take the keyword cloud and move it to below the price selection job done. I would then see exactly where I wanted to go what you had and would click further all with out thinking about it. If I was then interested in the pop.items I would then use it.

The keyword cloud could attract the eye as well as encourage them to click though. I couldn't be sure with out testing.

You also have a major issue with the news.
I was reading it and almost gave up as I thought it was a list of category's where this content could be found.

My suggestion -
Show more of the news content as this will increase your freshness factor and usability factor.
Put a space below filed under: This will help to break up the natural presentation.
Cut "filed under:" down, again I'm thinking to much - is it in Moms?Dads?Celebrity parents behaving badly?Celebrity parents?Celebrity kids? or Celebrity babies?Does he have a category for all those pages? Do all those pages contain the same article? Do I need to search for these terms to get to this article? To many questions. Cut it down to 2 tops preferably 1 and turn it into a link to that category.

Also more news isn't specific enough Again questions? If I click this will I get to the information about Mel B being depressed over Eddie's absence? or will I get a list of the latest news articles?

It should say Read more about Mel B being depressed.
Under that include a link to Similar news or related news or all the latest stories.

Provide two stories at least one is only specific to people who are interested in Mel B being depressed.

Also the title Mel B depressed over Eddie's absence doesn't relate to the line of the article
"Brown seems to have a lot to be happy about these days." What wells Mel B gone? Brown? Brown who?
The first line should reiterate Mel B to let the user know it's about Mel B.

The tools at the bottom are good but they are below the fold. You have 2 much white space at the top place them in the top left then people can say whoa thats what I'm looking for rather than them being down the page and them missing them entirely.

Also when you click though to a category theres 2 much to do, way 2 many options. Get the item picture and name showing above the fold.

The social book marks are good but place them above the black head line and shorten the search box background theres to much wasted white space. This will bring everything up the page. However the search box is long search boxes need to be at least 25-30 characters before it scrolls so people can see what they entered yours is 34 spot on. Also the drop down menu is good starts by selecting all category's. Not to big as well as users have issues navigating large drop down lists, too much effort and thought needed so spot on for that.

I know these are usability issues but it doesn't matter if you get 100 visitors or a million visitors a month if your bucket is full of holes and you are losing them due to usability issues.

I do like how easy the links are to use and that the site looks ok and is not cluttered. Just try to reorganize your content better and you will see your traffic increase on it's own. SEO is pointless if you have usability problems. There are other issues I could point out and I really only looked at the home page. But that sholud be enough for now. :D

Baby Supply....can you fulfill faster than 9 months....sorry I couldn't resist.

whats your bounce rate?

I think some good old fashioned marketing on the homepage could benefit you the most.

Put up some testimonials, get rid of the tag cloud or make it less prominent, and I would recommend product images for each category, as well as a large stock photo of a happy mom/baby.

make the logo a link to the homepage, people expect that.

The tag cloud is a big no no.
it will be sinking your page in Google for sure,
SPAM

I do agree with ryan on all but the images. Your page is small which is good.

But the best features of your site is that the home page nav in the middle is done in a very good way, easy on the eyes and straight to the point, none of the sub categorys over lap which is very good, I would do it v.slightly different buts thats me.

Your left nav (under the keyword cloud) is very good.

People who will come to you will know what they want, most of the time. Images are not nesercarliy a good thing but again w/o testing neither of us can say for sure.

Personally I do think you need a bit more content though. Perhaps 2-4 lines for each news article and add 2 more articles. Obviously you have to try it and see what it looks like and decide but get the balance right your design is very good just slightly unorganized in my opinion but if you do take Ryans or my advice don't go to the other end of the spectrum. You shouldn't need to increase the page size a lot.

I agree with the logo but never provide a link to the page you on on the same page, This confuses some people are they on the right page? Again questions.

The way to make a great site is never make the site visitor need to ask a question that you cant answer on that page, or at least one click away. But the answer would have to be immediately apparent on that second page.

Remember when people look at a site on the net they read text first and look at images second if at all. It's totally opposite from off line reading.

whitehat I cant really see how it'll be classed as spam the text isn't hidden, not really keyword spamming or stuffing. If it was 1 word repeated I would agree. SEO effect is very little to none but being penalized by it I personally would say not. Spamming the alt tags is a higher chance of being penalized which hopefully he has now changed.

However it is flawed when you refresh they all move, change color and size. Thats not good you find a category what you want you go back to the home page now it's moved changed color and is dead tiny.
Wheres it gone? Has the page been updated since I was last here? Is it the same page?

Personally I would stop it moving and just move it down the page.

"Your left nav (under the keyword cloud) is very good."

not showing up for me with firefox, granted thats only maybe 7-10 percent of the market

I think the pictures or product icons would make it look slightly less like MFA.... it is an affiliate site right....or do you actually warehouse stock?

Yeah thats my point you have to click the top arrow for it to show up on the home page. Fire Fox has 35.4% of the market share

Click here to see the latest statistics Browser statistics (http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp)

Also bare in mind Opera is automatically set up to register it's self as IE, so it wouldn't miss out on browser sniffers, therefore that 1.5% is only the percentage of Opera browsers that have changed their settings to register themselves as Opera and not IE.

So if the actual % is 4% 2.5% would be added to the IE statistic

Nothing shows for me when I click the top arrow, it justs removes the tag cloud.

BTW Jazajay your link points to the log file stats for w3e....so all that means is 35% of web developers/w3 readers have firefox. I think their audience may be a tad bit skewed ;)

I bow to your powers MR Ryan. True he must be in a middle of a site redesign probably updating my recommendations lol as it was working the other day.

Heres the proper link for the Browser statistics (http://www.upsdell.com/BrowserNews/stat_trends.htm)

So tag cloud will not help you guys, I am sorry to hear - since we placed it to show the most frequent searches of parents. We can drop it if you see fit

Dear SEO Experts,

My partner & I implemented all your wizdom insights. The latest changes:
- Kill the cloud :)
- Add more relevant content to main page

Appreciate your thoughts

Dear SEO Experts,

My partner & I implemented all your wizdom insights. The latest changes:
- Kill the cloud :)
- Add more relevant content to main page

Appreciate your thoughts

Looks much better uklucach ;)
While I wouldnt class myself as one of the experts, I have a couple of suggestions for you.

About us page - add some information about yourself and your partner. pictures of yourselves can also be affective.

you are trying to communicate with the buyer....make them feel they know you a bit.

Contact us - hide your email addy in javascript to save your self from the spam scum of the web!! (just a personal thought as I hate spam!)

technology - much as this is a nice article. I dont think it is relevant to your average pregnant mother to be :D

I would focus on maybe expanding your Celebrity babies section. Only with original content though....not copied articles.

One example....
<title>Baby Gifts, Baby Shower, Car Seat, Find the Lowest Price</title>
<meta name="Description" content="Baby Gifts, Baby Shower, Car Seat, Find the Lowest Price. Comparison Shopping for Baby Products. Compare baby apparel, baby toys, baby travel, bathing and bathroom, diapering, baby furniture, linens and bedding, nursing and feeding products.">

Your description contains identical text to your title. it is better if it is a human readable description of your site....and I personally would not replicate the page title in it.

great work though. You just need some patience now!